My First MMA Fight

On June 16, 2012 I made my amateur mixed martial arts debut at Yankee Lake Brawlroom; a small promotion in Ohio.  Originally, I was supposed to fight at WCC IV on June 8 in Greensburg, PA but my opponent backed out for unknown reasons.  I was disappointed because three of my teammates were already lined up to fight on the same card and I didn't want to be left out of the action.  A short while after, during a training session at Fight Club Pittsburgh, I was offered a fight in Ohio at Yankee Lake Brawlroom 34, set for June 16.  I was familiar with the promotion because several of my training partners had fights there in the past and generally agreed that it was a good place to kick off an amateur career.  I accepted the fight and anxiously started counting down the days leading up to my debut.

The opponent I was matched up with had an identical build but apart from body type I didn't know much about him except that he was a white rapper from Ohio.  My confidence was high going into the fight because I had been training for nearly two years while many amateur fighters make their debuts after just months of preparation (sometimes even less).  Not only that, but I knew the caliber of training partners I had were much higher than any of my opponents could hope to have at this level.  Also, I was excited to fight under Ohio rules which are far more lenient and realistic than those established in Pennsylvania for amateur competitors (i.e. the required use of shin pads and over-sized gloves in addition to no ground-n-pound).

A few days before the fight, my opponent was unsurprisingly changed once again and for whatever reason the weight limit became 210 pounds instead of 205.  I was informed that my new opponent was making his debut as well but only had about two months of training.  I figured the largest obstacle I would have to overcome in the fight was the weight advantage, because I knew for a fact I was going to show up lighter than him.  My opponent probably had to cut from heavyweight or else the bout would have stayed at 205.  The biggest concern I had at this point was making sure I weighed in somewhere between 205 and 210 otherwise the fight would be cancelled.

I woke up the morning of the fight and immediately weighed myself.  I was shocked to see "199.5" on the scale after I went to bed the night before right at 205.  Up until I left for Ohio around noon, I chugged water bottles and ate constantly in an effort to get my weight up.  However, it was still not enough so once I got to the weigh-ins a few people let me borrow their keys and cell phones so I could stuff them in my pockets in order to make the weight minimum.  It worked, and I officially weighed in at 207.5!

It was extremely hot that day in Brookfield, Ohio so the organizers had to set up a cage in the backyard of the original venue which was deemed unsafe due to lack of proper ventilation.  The whole setup was far from glamorous.  The seats were your standard lawn chairs, with sections separated not by fences or railings but big planks of plywood and other haphazard materials.  There was a DJ booth that blasted crappy death metal in an effort to pump up the crowd before the fights started.  As for the cage itself, it was rickety, plain and probably unsafe.  Say hello to your average entry-level MMA promotion!

The hours leading up to fight time were interesting to say the least. A training partner from Fight Club Pittsburgh also had a fight on the card but his opponent mysteriously vanished after weigh-ins. A short while after, we received word that his opponent went to a nearby gas station, slipped on an oil puddle, and banged his head against a gas pump, forcing him to go to the hospital and withdraw from the card. You can't make this stuff up.

After a while, the fine citizens of Brookfield, Ohio and surrounding areas started filling up the seats, eagerly awaiting the sound of the first bell.  As I was getting my hands wrapped, I finally started feeling a little nervous.  The fights before mine were ending quickly and the time to test my skills was fast approaching.  As I was warming up, I thought about all the training I had gone through over the past two years to get to this point.  I felt very confident and surprisingly relaxed because I was certain I had worked harder than my opponent, therefore I could not lose.  I was ready both physically and mentally.  It was time to fight.

After the announcer called my name, I steadily made my approach towards the cage.  Once I got in and the door shut behind me, I felt an incredible energy and couldn't wait to go to battle.  Before I knew it, the referee said "Go!" and what ensued was one of the realest experiences of my life.  Every time one of my punches connected, I could feel my opponents skull through the gloves.  It was the hardest I had ever hit anyone in my life.  I remember thinking to myself that my hands were definitely going to break at some point but the adrenaline rush made it hard to feel any real pain.  I clinched with my opponent several times and delivered some brutal knees to his midsection.  I could tell he felt every one of them.  As the fight went on, I ended up rocking him several times until I finally secured a standing guillotine choke and forced him to submit in the first round.

Immediately after the referee stopped the contest, I felt a wave of happiness, relief and countless other emotions wash over me.  I had just accomplished one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life; I had won my very first MMA fight!  All the blood and sweat (no tears) I put in on the mats for the past two years finally paid off.  I felt like I conquered a massive obstacle and proved to others as well as myself that I could not only compete, but win in the toughest sport in the world.

Dino
-Amature Mixed Martial Arts fighter from Stout Training Pittsburgh / Team Renzo Gracie

Highlights and Technical Observations on the BJJ World Championship (gi) 2012

Worlds 2012 (day 3)
Some highlights of the IBJJF World Tournament 2012 as seen on Budovideos.com livestream

Quarters-Semifinal Rounds
 For blackbelt quarterfinals-semifinals I've tried to keep track of the number and types of submissions used.  I've counted 13 submission wins.  They are listed below with the winner (when I know who it is).

1. armlock (Caio Terra)
2. rear naked choke
3. lapel choke from back
4. straight ankle lock (Thiago Abreau)
5. bow and arrow choke (Malficine)
6. standing choke?? (G. Mendez)
7. arm in eziekiel (Lepri)
8. armlock (R. Viera)
9. ??? (Leo Nogiera)
10. triangle (Pe De Pano)
11. choke with own lapel (B. Fario)
12. flying armlock (X. Ribiero)
13. lapel choke from back (R. Viera)

Some great matches that did not end in submission where Leandro Lo vs Satoshi (sunday pt 3 11.33).  Lo used the spider guard to one-leg x guard position to the far side of the foot on bicept for some great sweeps.  He also used some great bullfighter passing.  Lucas Leite vs Sousa was a great back and fourth match with Lucas loosing on advantage but getting some points with his halfguard sweeps.  Victor Estima and Claudio Calasans was also won by an advantage.  Pe De Pano v M. Amieda was also a very exciting match.  M. Almieda got up at the beginning of the match but had to hang on at the end to keep the win after Pe De Pano got a sweep from closed guard and was working for the pass or back control. The leg pummeling position was very prevalent in the competition, as was the double guard pull.  All four of the matches above had leg pummeling and double guard pulls. 
Finals
There were 3 referees decisions.  Lo won by one advantage over Lepri.  Sousa beat Calisans by one negative point.  To me this indicates the need for some rules changes or some type of overtime proceedure such as freestyle and folkstyle wrestling has in place.  Also I do think that there needs to be some objective criteria for when a position is not going anywhere(stalemate in scholastic wrestling).  The official can then step in and break up the position. Of course this leave room for the official to have more influence on the outcome of matches, but, it may eliminate an outright referees decision in some cases.  It may also make the action better for fans. It also seems that there needs to be some clarification or rules change on how takedowns and pulling guard are called.
I found the heavier weights more entertaining this year for the first time in the 10 years I've been watching IBJJF tournaments.  Of course there have always been some great bigger guys such as Roger Gracie. Generally it seemed like they where more cautious and less dynamic.  This year the bigger guys where going after submissions and did not seem to employ as much inverted guard.  The inverted and 50/50 guards are legitimate position of course.  I do think that they become much more prevalent because of the current rules in ibjjf.


Techniques/positions that stood out for me

•  Caio Terra and Mendez brothers going underneath and getting a cross body type back control
• Lepri going from cross knee through the middle pass to back control or arm in eziekiel
• Lo's bullfight passing transitions
• Lo's spider gaurd sweep
• Seated De La Riva sweep/single leg.  Variations used by both Sousa and Barral.

Other great action that I think is worth rewatching when Budovideos does the replay and dvd's is Xande's flying armbar and M. Almieda's wristlock from mount to set up the regular armbar.  Also techniques that we've seen before but are worth noting are Victor Estima's inverted triangle and Lucas Leite's half guard sweeps in the earlier rounds.  We will try to post the times that these techniques come up on the Budovideos replay when it comes out.  Check back in.

Thank you to www.Budovideos.com for streaming the event.  I enjoyed watching from home in Pittsburgh this year.  Jiu jitsu is gaining a huge fan base partly thanks to your efforts.  The absolute match of R.Viera vs M. Almieda already has almost 500,000 views on youtube!

-Warren

www.renzograciepittsburgh.com

A Brief History of the Belt Ranking System

The modern martial arts belt ranking system first started emerging in 1907 when the creator of Judo, Jigoro Kano, introduced the iconic Judo uniform and belt. Before that, his students practiced in traditional Japanese kimonos. However, back then there existed only two belt colors: white and black. White belts were those in the process of learning the fundamentals while black belts were students who mastered the basics, knew how to use them functionally and were ready to pursue Judo on a more serious and advanced level. The white coloring represented purity, avoidance of ego, and simplicity while the black symbolized a fuller repertoire of knowledge.

A popular belief within the martial arts community is that every student started off with a white belt then gradually it darkened in color from all the blood, sweat and tears of training. However, there exists no real historical evidence of this practice and it is generally regarded to be little more than a myth. Here is a list of the traditional Judo ranks:

6th grade (rokyu)
5th grade (gokyu)
4th grade (yonkyu)
3rd grade (sankyu)
2nd grade (nikyu)
1st grade (ikkyu)

1st degree (shodan)
2nd degree (nidan)
3rd degree (sandan)
4th degree (yodan)
5th degree (godan)
6th degree (rokudan)
7th degree (shichidan)
8th degree (hachidan)
9th degree (kudan)
10th degree (judan)

It was not until 1935 that other colored belts such as yellow, orange, green, blue and purple entered the ranking system. Mikonosuke Kawaishi is generally regarded as the originator of this practice when he started teaching Judo in Paris in 1935. He believed western students would show greater progress if they had a visible system of many colored belts recognizing achievement and providing regular incentives. This is very interesting because in many ways it reflects the contrasting views of the east and west. For example, people from Japan and other Asian countries are known for having a high degree of patience and a "long term" perspective of life. On the other hand, Americans have a reputation of thriving on quick results and focusing heavily on the "short term" future, made evident by the modern practice of black belt commercialization. This explains why Jigoro Kano never felt the need to have any more belt colors other than white and black while Judo was still only practiced in Japan. It seems as though the in-between plays a much more important role than the beginning and end in the eastern cultures, as shown by the way they practice their martial arts.

As Judo grew in popularity both within and outside of Japan, other martial arts began adopting Jigoro Kano's gi, belt, and ranking system for their own uses. Interestingly, if one were to randomly ask a person today the first thing that comes to mind after hearing "Japanese fighting style" he or she would most likely say "Karate" and envision a black belt practitioner donning a gi, when in actuality Karate originated outside of Japan and had nothing to do with the gi or belt system until the later days of its development.

Eventually, groundwork specialist Mitsuyo Maeda made his way to Brazil in 1914 and passed his knowledge of Judo to the Gracie family (and others), where over time it was modified and changed until it became a completely different art--Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Naturally, the gi and belt stuck around, serving as an eternal reminder of BJJ's roots.

These days, Jigoro Kano's contributions to the martial arts continue to live on. Enter any martial arts academy, be it for Tae Kwon Do, Jiu-Jitsu, or some other style, and you'll most likely see students wearing the traditional Judo uniform (or some variant of it) with various colored belts around their waists; striving to one day attain the coveted "black belt" status--an often misunderstood ranking within the martial arts community. This is largely due to the influx of martial arts films in the 1970s which often depicted fictional heroes boasting black belts in Karate and Kung-Fu; thus being unstoppable hand-to-hand combatants--a Hollywood vision that couldn't be farther from reality. In fact, these films became so popular that commercialized martial arts schools("McDojos") began appearing all over the country with intentions of profiting from them, and continue to fool the uninformed to this day. These illegitimate academies are notorious for offering lackluster instruction and promising "street-ready black belt status" in just a few short years, all while charging preposterously high membership fees. As one can tell just by looking at the average "8 year old black belt," this deceptive practice has heavily degraded the reputation of Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and other traditional arts.

Belt promotions themselves are a subject of particularly high interest in the martial arts. As a student, one is always wondering what needs to be done to reach the next level and attain a higher ranking. Going back to Eastern philosophy, many people(mostly westerners) think more about the end than the in-between. They place too much focus on the "status symbol" of being at an advanced level, and not enough on actual training progress. It's a bit cliche, but the saying "the journey is more important than the destination" applies here. Requisites for belt promotion vary from instructor to instructor. One thing that sets Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu apart from other martial arts is the emphasis on live training as a basis for promotion. A student must be able to execute techniques properly against a fully resisting opponent rather than simply demonstrating a predetermined set of techniques to the instructor("kata") or taking a "belt test." If there's anything we can learn from the McDojos, it's that upholding standards, even at the expense of short-term monetary gain, is important in belt promotions. In this interview by FightsWeWant.com with John Danaher, one of the top Jiu-Jitsu teachers in the world, he shares his views on belt promotions and ranking:


FWW: Starting at white belt and every belt thereafter to black; what attributes do you look for in a student in order to consider them for elevation to the next rank both as it relates to their physical and mental approach to the art?

JD: The first and most important criteria for promotion is performance. Can you successfully apply your moves in live training in the gym against people in the belt category above yours? Or, for those who like to compete, have you consistently excelled in local competitions within your current rank? To this fundamental demand I add some other considerations. There may be some handicaps that a student has that soften my demand for performance. The age of the student, for example. I don't expect a 55 year old blue belt student to tap out 22 year old purple belts. I also look at the breadth and precision of the student's technique. If he consistently wins in class with only a few sloppy moves from a limited number of positions due mostly to advantages in strength and size, I will be reluctant to promote him until he improves his technical repertoire. In general I am fairly easy in giving out belts as I do not attach great importance to them. If you make Jiu-Jitsu a lifetime study (as I hope all my students do), the vast majority of your training years will be at black belt level and beyond, so the amount of time taken to acquire the various early belts is not a significant issue. In all truth, you do most of your learning over a life time post-black belt. Accordingly I see people growing into their belts over time, so I don't like to hold people back in rank forever.


On a final note, I encourage readers to explore the rich history of the martial arts. It's fascinating to look to the past and discover the roots of age-old traditions that not only still exist today, but continue to play a practical role. The next time you step into a Jiu-Jitsu class at Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh, remember: a black belt is just a white belt who never quit.

-Dino

Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh 2011 Recap

Two thousand twelve is here! The past year went really fast for me so writing this was a nice way to reflect on all the good memories. Challenges overcome are always good memories so I'll start with those. The toughest challenges were thrown at guys most of us respect. First, Lance Thompson had a very serious injury last December. I've heard that the number one reason purple belts don't move up the ranks is due to injuries. This is understandable having had one myself. It is amazing how such an obstacle can change your mental state. Injuries give some people a powerful reason to quit something, even when it is positive for them. Lance underwent surgery and came back even better than when he left! Mike Wilkins faced a different kind of challenge. After establishing himself as one of the areas best amateur MMA fighters, he decided to step up a level and go professional against the advice of the armchair critics and other people involved in mixed martial arts. He finally got a fight in Costa Rica. He lost at the very end of the first round (which he dominated) to a submission. It was a difficult way to lose after spending almost a year on improving his grappling. The critics and naysayers were vindicated, right? Wrong. Mike came back and had a dominating win in his first official pro fight right here in Pennsylvania. Heather Wiederstein also came back from injuries and losses.

The members of Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh participated in many competitions. In MMA we saw Mike Wilkins make his pro debut. Sean Clair made his amateur debut with a decision win over a tough 2-0 jiu-jitsu fighter. Lucas Burdette returned to the cage, fighting in the NAAFS organization after a long layoff. He came back strong with one of the most inspiring victories I've seen in my years watching MMA.

Heather Wiederstein and Curt Uniatowski stepped in the cage for the first time and fought hard but dropped decisions. In jiu-jitsu competition, I surprised myself by placing third in the black belt adult division (middleweight) at the Nogi Pan-Ams and third in the Miami Open black belt absolute division (www.ibjjf.org). While these are not the best tournaments in jiu-jitsu/grappling (that would be the IBJJF Worlds and ADCC), they are certainly top-tier competitions that few Americans (and no one training out of Pittsburgh) have placed in before. I have to thank all my training partners at RGA for getting me ready to compete successfully at a world level, especially considering the limited time I have to spend on my own training. On a less happy note, I was invited to compete in the Kerberus Pro Absolute and lost by footlock so quickly that I made Atos's highlight reel. As a team, we had a great showing at the Kumite Classic in Monroeville this past May. We dominated the white belt adult gi division. Individually we had many champs including Heather (gi and nogi), Jonas (gi and nogi), Phil, and Jarret Lewis (blue belt gi). We had several other place winners. At a local West Virginia tournament, Dave Ziegler took first place in blue belt gi and second in advanced nogi. Phil Norbeck took second in white belt gi. At the IBJJF New York Open, Dave took second in the blue belt division. He showed technical skill as well as toughness winning three matches in a tough, high-level event. Check out videos of the action on YouTube. We miss you, Dave! Jonas and Alex (youth division) also took first place finishes at Steel City's tournament during the summer. I think everyone who competed learned something valuable.

Some good friends and training partners are no longer training at the academy. Hopefully some will be back in the new year. Our membership numbers doubled. Heather organized some women's only training which brought women from other academies. Our kids program really took off in 2011. Jarret took the conditioning program to a new level. He continued his learning with a TRX certification and lots of hard training. Jarret also organized the David Clancy kettlebell seminar.
We had a world-class instructor from Brazil, Roger Ambrosi, join us for a few months. He brought a different perspective to classes and his championship technique to our school. He also did many private lessons and helped me with my training. I could not have competed at a high level in 2011 without training with Roger. Daniel Gracie awarded him his black belt in December at his home academy in Brazil. Roger and his wife Mel returned to Brazil not long ago so that he could undergo orthopedic surgery. We hope to see them back in Pittsburgh sometime in 2012.

We had plenty of social events and good times watching the UFC at bars and at our fellow members houses. Our year-end party was fun and lots of nice gear was won.

We hosted two seminars this year. The first was Igor Gracie. Since my son Jake was being born in Costa Rica, Logan helped organize the seminar. Everyone said Igor was an inspirational but down-to-earth guy and that they learned some valuable jiu-jitsu lessons. I think Mike Wilkins already dangerous guillotine got even meaner. I was really happy to bring my old teacher Shawn Williams to Pittsburgh and host his seminar. He showed us why he is such a respected teacher. We are still working on lots of the stuff he showed us.

Thanks to CPAMMA for attending the seminars and stopping by to train every now and then. We like having you! We have had many visitors who have added to our school by training with us and sharing technique. Will Durkee (adult purple belt pan nogi champ) and Garry Tonon (brown belt world gi and pan nogi champ) gave us great training and tips when they were in town.

We had many belt promotions in 2011. Here is a list:

Purple: Brendan Lupetin and Jarret Lewis



















Blue: Anthony Previte, Jason Coligan, Sean Clair, Chris Ripple, Casey Stapleton, Mike Mehalko, Doug Placko and Geoff Hogate.

Brendan and Jarret were the first purple belts I have given so they are extra special for me. Jarret got his blue from Jean Jacques Machado and Brendan got his from Renzo himself. Jason and Geoff started at Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh and are "home grown" (not in a Rastafarian way I don't think).

Thank you for the great camaraderie, great workouts, and for being members of the Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh Academy. I sincerely thank all of you. Unless the Mayans and ancient Indian Vedas writers are correct and the world ends, we are going to continue to grow and get better in 2012!

-Warren

Watching a Cagefight

I first met Mike Wilkins at Mad Dog Gym a few years ago. It's a little gym in the back corner of a tattoo parlor. Inside, you'll find mats, punching bags, and screaming death metal. I was new to the world of MMA, and in between getting slammed, spraining my neck, and being caught in bicep slicers on a nightly basis I met Mike. He was a friendly guy with an oddly likeable alpha-male persona. These days, we train together at the Renzo Gracie Pittsburgh Academy in Lawrenceville.

Two weeks ago, a bunch of us drove out to Altoona, PA on a chilly fall Saturday night to support the "Monongahela Miracle". I made the two hour drive with two whiny teenagers, and was all too happy to arrive at the arena. As soon as I parked, I literally ran to the door of the auditorium.

I arrived 45 minutes late, but it was no big deal. There were a bunch of amateur fights on the card, and Mike's fight was second to last. As I entered the auditorium, the first thing I heard was the sickening slap of a shin guard against another man's cup. The crowd booed and groaned, and the hapless victim had a minute to recover. I surveyed the surroundings, looking for my friends. The seats were packed with folks from every walk of life. I saw casual fans, hardcore fans, nursing mothers, guys in XXXL Tapout shirts, and numerous old folk.

I found my friends from the Jiu-Jitsu Academy and sat down, getting cozy and catching up with the results of the previous fights. Only 8 feet away from me was the cage, and I could see two men locked in fierce combat. One man was pressed against the fence, defending the takedown, while the other man was working tenaciously to plant his opponent on his back. After a while, the ref broke them apart for stalling. Time to grab a beer.

Later in the event, they finally announced our teammate Mike Wilkins. We all stood and cheered--unbridled screaming, beer cans spilling, strobe lights inducing far away seizures... I could go on with this, but the English language has only two words which adequately sum up the experience: BUCK WILD. Yes, we ALL went BUCK WILD.

The fight started like I'd imagined. Mike was a ferocious southpaw, and immediately worked his clinching game. I've sparred with Mike in the past. He's one of those guys that doesn't hit you as hard as he can, but only as hard as you need to be hit. The high point of the fight was watching Mike and his opponent just a few feet from us, clinched against the cage. You could hear them grunting and trying to knee each other. I felt like Mike was the DJ and I had requested my favorite song, "Knees to the Head". Mike must have worn his tin foil hat that night, because he instantly whipped those knees up in the face of his poor foe. In the second round, Mike got his opponent belly down and battered him like a lanky white blonde gorilla. He slipped in the choke, his foe tapped, and the ref stepped in.

As the fight ended, I could already imagine tomorrow's updated Sherdog MMA profile: "Mike Wilkins-Win-Round Two-Rear Naked Choke". I feel like those quick factoids we see on the profiles of our favorite fighters fail to capture the immense drama of two men (or women) locked in a cage in the fiercest struggle imaginable. It's a glorious thing, this challenge of the human spirit we call a "cage fight"- to battle your equal in the most fundamental score-settling manner as humanly possible.

If you haven't ever seen a cage fight live, you should.

-Casey